


What History Forgot

by inadistantworld



Series: That Forever Kind of Love [3]
Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Pirate, Alternate Universe - Vampire, Backstory, Bondage, Chair Sex, Cunnilingus, Dom Vex'ahlia (Critical Role), Enthusiastic Consent, F/M, Flashbacks, Oral Sex, Porn With Plot, Smut, Sub Fjord (Critical Role)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-13
Updated: 2018-11-13
Packaged: 2019-08-23 06:17:34
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 12,708
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16613525
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/inadistantworld/pseuds/inadistantworld
Summary: Vex remembers a piece of her history, the good and the bad. She tells Percy about her time as a pirate king a few hundred years ago and about other monsters that humans should fear, including the vampires that turned her.Fjord has a bit of a captain kink and the fun vampire AU gets a bit of a plot.





	What History Forgot

**Author's Note:**

> I honestly don't know how it happened but this vampire AU has a bit of potential plot and some history and stuff to it. I just wanted to write porn with fangs and maybe some pirates, but it seems there's more to it now. Sorry if that's not your jam.  
> Fjord is very much so Vex's type and I think we should talk about that more.  
> More importantly! Mattholomew himself broke into my house and stole this WIP because the first half of the porn bit was written when Fjord got down and dirty with Avantika and he stole my vibe! Rude! (But also vindicating to know I was right)

Vex had a type.

Vax called her predictable. When she brought Percy home Vax had just sighed and said of course she would pick him. Vex wished she could say he was wrong, but she liked what she liked.

Eager to please.

Submissive.

Dangerous.

Beautiful.

Pretty in rope.

 

In another time, one long before cameras and internet and all the things that made immortality tedious and terrifying it was exhilarating. The twins travelled the world and never had to truly worry about anyone picking up on the truth. They were just the mysterious new people in town who threw lavish parties or the distant family of some noble but nobody seemed to quite remember which one, even just the new rich kids in the big city who were likely orphans of some sort and were just living very intense kinds of lives.

They were even pirate kings.

Vex was standing on her ship, Vax was off talking to the navigator somewhere about their next destination, but she was just taking in the night air and the smell of the sea. The crew of course realized the nocturnal habits of their captains, but there were plenty of strange things on the ship. The fact that there were two captains, two large quarters with thick drapes over the windows that they were absolutely forbidden from entering, even in emergencies. There was the fact that they came out only at night and they had an uncanny sense of direction and where they could find good targets in the pitch black dark.

 _The Trinket_ was notorious for its midnight attacks that left few, if any, survivors. And its captains were ruthless when it came to other ships, though they cared deeply for their own people.

Hunger began to nag at Vex that night. It was clear and she couldn’t hear or see any ships on the ocean with them, meaning there would likely be nothing to feed on for the night. She resigned herself to waiting another day and if they could find nobody the next night then she would talk to Vax about heading for port. It seemed that it would be another quiet night on the water, so Vex just leaned forward on the railing and stared out while her crew worked the ship behind her.

“Captain,” a voice drawled behind her.

Vex’s lips quirked into a smile but she didn’t turn to face him yet. “Yes?”

She could hear the pounding of his heart and the shifting of his feet. “Should we set course for anywhere specific?”

“Let my brother handle that tonight, I don’t see anything particularly promising out there.”

Fjord cleared his throat and dropped his voice, she knew the look on his face was both skeptical and intrigued, as if she was some kind of magician that he didn’t know whether to trust or not. “And uh, how far exactly do you see?”

Vex wanted to laugh at the awkward, obvious prying for answers and his attempt at nonchalant. “Far enough to know there’s nothing worth our interest tonight.”

“O-okay then,” his voice tipped up into an almost question and she turned to look at him, resting her hands on either side of the railing behind her and leaning the small of her back against it.

Fjord’s cheeks flushed a dark green under the intense way she looked him over. Her hunger flared again, gnawing at her as she took him in. Vex had known shortly after Fjord boarded their ship that he would be her usual type. Her brother had known too and had reminded her that it was not best to feed or play with anyone working for them, but well sometimes a girl needed to eat and wasn’t it better when the food enjoyed it too?

“I would like to show you something in my quarters, Fjord, if you’re not opposed.” She’d been flirting with him for so long that she wasn’t concerned with making her offer more clear on the deck of the ship.

“Opposed?” He arched an eyebrow and paused as he seemed to turn the thought over in his mind for half a second, “I am most certainly not opposed to that.” He licked his lips and Vex drank in the sound of his heart and the scent of him mixed with the sea. “If I may inquire, what is it you are looking to show me? Just so I know how to…prepare myself.”

“That’s entirely up to you, Fjord, and most certainly not for the ears of anyone on deck.” A slow, sultry smile crossed her lips and she began to walk towards him, enjoying the way his breath hitched and he straightened up.

He noticed that she was walking past him and quickly asked, “Right now?”

She paused so they were standing shoulder to shoulder, his body still towards the sea and his face turned to look at her while Vex faced deeper into the ship and cast her eyes up at the moon. “Not yet, I’ll need an hour. Feel no obligation to join me, Fjord, it is nothing I can’t handle on my own.”

Fjord had to swallow past the lump in his throat before he could even manage a response and Vex had already continued to walk away from him. By the time he even had an idea of what he wanted to say she had disappeared below deck.

 

There were three knocks on the door, just a little more hesitation than normal. Vex smiled, a little bit nervous was her type. Just a hint of fear in all of that anticipation. She liked a man who didn’t know what to do with her, mostly because it gave her more opportunities to decide what to do with him.

She didn’t answer nor did she look up with the door opened and the charming yet hesitant half-orc entered.

Vex was leaning over her desk, pouring over a map of the area. Greyskull, the pirate port that she and her brother had held control over for close to a decade, was marked with a skull and crossbones. She had a few notes scrawled on it about the locations of other ships under her command as well as trade routes to keep an eye on as well as places to keep an eye out for the royal navy. All good things for a pirate king to keep track of. Beside the maps was a small purse of a deep purple fabric filled with coins she’d just finished counting out and a note tied to it saying “Thanks Gil”.

“Captain?” Fjord said after a moment.

“I’ll be with you in a moment, feel free to take a seat or look around, I’d prefer you be nosy now rather than later,” her tone was light and joking rather than accusing.

Still, Fjord stood just inside the doorway with his hands behind his back. He did look about himself, his eyes catching the thick, heavy red drapes that covered the window and the rich, large bed in the center of the opposite wall. There was a bookshelf filled with books, some older than Fjord could really comprehend.

Vex decided she’d had enough of making him wait and then turned to look at her guest. “What are you in the mood for tonight, Fjord?”

He blinked rapidly as he took in the question, his cheeks flushed, and he began to stutter out about four different answers. “I—hm,” he touched his fingers to his lips and cleared his throat, “How do you mean?”

“Drinks, darling,” Vex said with an easy smile, “Wine, ale, rum, a handful of other spirits I’ve made sure to keep for my private stash. You can take your pick, I’m up for anything.”

He took a slow, deep breath, and nodded. “Of course.”

“It’s all over there. Help yourself,” she gestured to a cabinet with glass doors beside the bookshelf and then she went to the small round table with two chairs and took a seat with her back to the door so she could watch him look through. “Bring two glasses,” she told him when he finally took a bottle in hand, looking at her as if for approval of his selection.

Fjord brought two wine glasses over along with a red wine he picked mostly at random. He set the glasses down and looked back to Vex. She was leaning back in the chair in a loose white top, the laces at the collar undone and making it quite difficult for Fjord to keep his eyes from the expanse of skin and cleavage. She nodded to him and he took the wine cork from the table and, with obvious lack of familiarity, uncorked the bottle.

Vex took the glass in her hand and held it up casually. He pleased her immensely when his larger hand covered hers to steady the glass as he filled it for her, perhaps a little more than he should have but she didn’t say anything. “Thank you,” she said with a wink before drawing it to her lips as he poured himself a glass.

She didn’t drink, only let it touch her lips before setting the glass down. She could only handle small amounts of mortal food and drink so she would nurse the glass of wine as long as she could before he began to notice. She didn’t think it would get to that point, but she had to be ready just in case.

Fjord watched her and seemed to believe she drank before he did so himself. Vex’s type was always a little cautious. She could see that it wasn’t his favorite drink, that he likely wouldn’t have chosen it for himself, but she watched him smile and straighten up in his seat when she licked her lips and nodded like she was rather pleased. She’d had her eye on him long enough to notice how he preened under her praise.

“I don’t want there to be any question about this Fjord,” she said as she absently swirled the wine in her glass, “In this room I am not using my place as your Captain to command you to stay.” She smiled teasingly and continued, “I may use it to command you to do other things, but you are free to leave if you wish. I have no intention of keeping you in a place where you don’t want to be or to make you do things you do not want to do.”

Fjord nodded slowly and looked down at his own wine. He took another drink before he answered, “I appreciate that greatly. I must admit that I was concerned about the…implications of coming here.”

“Nothing changes outside of this room, I’ve simply found the I enjoy many things about you and I’d like to see more of you, but as I said before, I can find other ways of getting what I’m looking for.”

“I am certainly interested in the—” Vex’s type was always a little formal, using pretty sounding words when they weren’t needed.

“Sex, Fjord,” she pretended to drink again, “we can call it what it is.”

“Indeed. I’d be lying if I said I didn’t want you like that.”

Vex leaned forward, setting her elbows on the table and resting her chin on her hand. Her lips quirked up into a smile and her gaze dark and intense. “Don’t be shy, Fjord, I’d love to hear what you think about it.”

Fjord’s breath hitched and he took another drink, this time it was obvious he was doing it for courage rather than stalling for thought. “You are one of the most beautiful women I’ve ever seen, which of course a large part of it, but I have seen you do many wonderous things and you are a…strong captain which I believe is a more prominent reason.”

“Is it? You always struck me as someone who responds well to orders.”

“You would be correct.” Vex’s type liked when she took over.

“Then it shouldn’t be difficult for you to remember I’m your captain in this room as well.”

He swallowed hard, “Not at all.”

“Good, I like that.”

“As do I.” She couldn’t wait to hear him lose that respectable and proper tone.

Vex leaned back in her seat and crossed her legs. She lifted her glass to her lips as she let her eyes take Fjord in, lingering on red rope around his waist and over his arms. “If this is something you want, Fjord, you’ll have to show me. I need to make sure you understand that what happens is up to you. You are allowed to say no but that means you must also say yes.”

He arched an eyebrow and inclined his head, “I’m glad to see that you take this so seriously.” He stood up from his seat.

“I’m in a position that can make these things…complicated.” She set her glass on the table.

He crossed over to her, “Captain. King. Huntress. I can see how others might be intimidated.”

“Aren’t you?” She looked up at him.

“Absolutely.” His hand touched her cheek and he leaned down until he was hovering inches away from her lips, “But I find I’m rather enjoying that.”

He kissed her. The taste of the wine still fresh on her lips, though when her tongue entered his mouth and slid against his he didn’t notice that the rest of her didn’t taste like wine, all he could process was her and the hand in his hair pulling him hard against her.

Fjord had no tusks like most half-orcs she had met and when her tongue ran over where they would have been she found tiny ridges over thick, flat teeth where they should have been. She decided she might finally ask him about it later, but for now she just wanted more.

Eventually though he needed to breathe. He pulled away, panting and hungry and already regretting the pause.

Vex didn’t seem to mind terribly. She touched the length of rope hanging from his hips and uncrossed her legs. “What are your feelings about rope, Fjord? Every day since we met I’ve seen you in it and I’ve had a number of thoughts regarding how you would look tied up.”

He closed his eyes and took a deep breath, “I would most certainly be interested in fulfilling those ideas.”

“I like a man who knows he wants someone else to take over for a bit.” She gently pushed him back, leaving him blinking and slightly confused. “Strip.”

His eyebrows almost went into his hairline and he nodded a little too eagerly, “Right, yeah, sure.”

“If you ever want this to stop, if I ever do or say something you don’t like, all you need to say is say so and it stops. Do you understand?”

“Yes, I will keep that in mind.”

“Good. Now, unless you plan on stopping here, I told you to do something, Fjord.” Vex took her glass again, this time actually taking a small sip because if felt like the moment, it felt right.

“Of course, Captain.” She found his use of her title a little cheeky but more than anything it was him surrendering to her, which she enjoyed immensely.

Fjord did as she asked but slowly. Not in a teasing way, he was not putting on a show for her, but in a methodical way. Vex’s type was always careful, thoughtful even. She liked when someone she was with took care of their things the way she intended to take care of them as hers.

He started with the dark red rope at his waist. He held it in his hands and looked to her for an answer. Vex nodded to the bed, she had plenty of rope more suited for her intentions and she didn’t plan on using the bed. She watched Fjord methodically coil the rope and set it down before doing the same to the ropes at his arms. Then he pulled the white shirt up over his head and folded it a little more haphazardly than he had handled the rope. She could hear the pounding of his heart as his excitement built.

She raked her eyes over his torso while he worked on his boots and arched her eyebrow at what she saw. His body was littered with pale scars, evidence of hard years, at least a handful of them aboard pirate ships considering he had made it onto the personal ship of the current Kings of Greyskull through rising in the ranks. He was perhaps not the expected choice, but when they had found him the took him in immediately. More interesting than those old scars, and they were quite interesting, was the single, dark metal hoop hanging from one of his nipples with a small circle of amber at the bottom.

She stood and gracefully moved across the room to him. He was now out of his boots and working away at his trousers. “Wait,” her voice was calm, collected, in complete control.

Fjord paused and looked up at her curiously, his pants half undone and resting low on his hips. “Have I done something wrong?”

“Not at all, you’re perfect,” she reassured him and watched the tension leave his shoulders. “I just wanted to see this,” she ran her fingers over the piercing, just barely brushing against his nipple. Still, his eyes fell shut and he let out a shaky breath. “Sensitive?” Vex ran her thumb against the pebbled flesh.

“Quite,” he answered with obvious difficulty.

“Show me what you like.” She pulled her hand away from him and without missing a beat his hands reached up to show her how he liked it.

She watched intently, noting how hard he pinched at them, how he twisted them, taking in the soft almost noises that slipped past his lips. While he showed her, she undressed. He didn’t realize at first, it wasn’t until her shirt hit the ground at his feet that he opened his eyes to see her standing topless before him. The look in his eyes was hungry beyond belief and Vex thrived under it.

She reached up, cupping her breasts and brushing her thumbs along her hardening nipples. “I thought it only fair I show you mine after you showed me yours.”

“I appreciate that greatly,” he seemed conflicted in how much he felt he was allowed to stare. Her favorite kind of man was one who couldn’t get enough of looking at her but had enough respect not to be creepy about it. Here though she wanted him to stare.

She pinched her nipple between her thumb and forefinger and moaned openly, perhaps a bit more dramatically than she needed to, but she wanted to guide his attention to the right place. Fjord’s hands fell to his sides as he watched her pull her bottom lip between her teeth and watched her show off a little for him. A lovely position to have him in, so focused on her that he lost track of himself.

“Feel free to keep going, Fjord. I’ll make sure we stay even.” She winked at the half-orc who was entirely absorbed in watching her.

Fjord had to shake himself out of his thoughts and hurriedly began working on his pants again until they pooled around his feet and he sloppily folded them and dropped them onto the bed. When he turned back to her Vex was in the middle of making a decision. She could do that while she kissed him though.

She took his face in her hands and drew his lips down to hers. Her fingers were at his neck, her thumbs on his cheeks, she pressed her tongue into his mouth and explored him freely. And when she pulled away she nicked his lip with one of her fangs, just to taste him.

He let out a sharp gasp and sucked at the trickle of blood on his lip instinctively to try and make it stop. Despite the little bit of pain his eyes were dark and heavy with want. Vex sat on the edge of the bed and crossed one leg over the other. “I believe I’m overdressed. Be a good boy and help me with my boots.”

Fjord, naked and achingly hard went to his knees before her. “Of course, Captain,” he voice was low and rough with an accent that Vex found increasingly attractive, especially when he said the word captain.

One of his hands ran up her thigh and he slowly uncrossed her legs, looking up at her the entire time. Nimble, experienced fingers undid the dark red laces at the back before he pulled one off and then the other, setting them off to the side with the upmost care.

Vex’ahlia ran her fingers through his hair and watched his eyes flutter close and he leaned into her hand. “Thank you, Fjord.” He opened his eyes again when she pulled her hand away and he politely shuffled back on his knees when she stood up. “These need to go as well, darling. It’d be a waste if I didn’t take advantage of your…current position.” She pointedly looked down at him and tilted his face up more with one finger at his chin. “Don’t get carried away yet, do you understand?”

“Yes, Captain,” his voice was deceivingly calm despite the pounding of his heart.

Vex watched him undress her. He was methodical, careful with her clothes and taking in every inch of her that he revealed. He was not overly eager, instead he seemed to savor the action. Vex’s type always had good taste and an appreciation for the simple things. It was because of that level of restraint and reverence that she allowed him to run his hands over her legs for a moment and even press a kiss against her thigh.

Then she laced her fingers in his hair and pulled his head back to look up at her. “We can get straight to it if you want, a good captain listens to the needs of her crew. If you want to cut to the main event I can get you ready for it. Unless there is something else you’d rather do first. I don’t think you’ll be particularly comfortable tied to my desk chair, though knowing you…I think you’ll like that.”

She watched his Adam’s apple bob as he swallowed, “As excited as I am for that,” she didn’t hide her glance to the dark green erection between his thighs, “I was wondering if you would allow me to taste you first, Captain.”

Gods every time he called her Captain she felt it in her core. She liked a man who wanted to be reminded of his place. “What kind of captain would I be if I let my subordinates wishes go unheard? You’re already on your knees, I’d hate to waste your enthusiasm. Get to work, Fjord, I trust you won’t disappoint.”

She didn’t take her hand away from him but lightened her grip so that he could move again. He wasted no time, his pure desire showing through in how he immediately to her cunt, skipping the kissing and nibbling on her thighs that she has thought he might try. She liked it, how eager he was to get his mouth on her. She was curious how he would have felt with tusks, if they would have scraped against the sensitive skin as he sucked at her clit or if they would have reminded her in a way of her own fangs.

His tongue was pressed as deep into her as he could get and his eyes flicked up to meet hers, so full of desperation and need for more of her. She could not say he was the most skilled at this art, he was honestly a little sloppy. His tongue went where it pleased, it seemed he forgot how to breathe and sometimes had to pull away, gasping for breath with his chin shiny and wet with her before he went back in for more. He was a quick learner though, just what she liked, and picked up on what made her pull his hair harder and what he should do to make her moan. More than that though he was eager for her. He wanted to taste her, to be good for her, to please her, he wanted to make her cum.

In order to do that though she would need to take control of the situation. Neither of them minded that at all.

Vex took a fistful of his hair and pulled his attention back to her clit, earning a groan from him at the sharp tug and renewed vigor in his work. “Fingers,” she spoke with the authority that she did when she was telling him to work the sails or when she was calling for cannons to be readied. There was no question to her voice, no room for error. If he had been thinking clearly in that moment he would have wondered how he would be able to listen to her speak like that again without his cock taking interest. At that particular moment though all he knew was that he wanted to please her.

He needed less guidance with his hands, though once again she wouldn’t have called him the best she’d had. That was really the curse of eternity, things rarely lived up to those from the past. Still, he was good enough that she wasn’t left to think about someone who had been better a century ago.

Fjord’s fingers were thick and rough with callouses but still nimble and dexterous from years of rope tying and careful work. She liked a man with well-worn and clever hands. He crooked two fingers inside of her and she rocked her hips forward, down onto his fingers more and against his mouth. Fjord moaned against her and sucked her clit between his lips while adjusting the rhythm of his fingers to match when she moved against him.

“Who would have thought,” Vex said between breaths and soft sighs as he drew her closer to the edge, “that you would have been so eager to be used by your Captain like this.”

She tightened around his fingers and her grip in his hair was almost painful as she pulled a little harder to see if she could make him moan again, which he did. She knew that a little bit of pain could be fun and she was happy to find Fjord of the same mindset. It would make the later part much easier.

She gasped as he added a third finger, unprepared and suddenly pleasantly stretched by him. She held him against her and ground against his tongue, whispering words of encouragement and praise. “Good boy,” “Fuck Fjord, just like that, “Don’t stop,” “Gods Fjord, I’m going to cum,” and more that would have normally made Fjord blush and probably stop functioning entirely, but here it only pushed him forward until her fingernails were digging into him and her legs were shaking and she was calling out his name without caring if the ship could hear.

And when she’d had enough of his mouth she gently pushed him back so he was sitting on the balls of his feet, leaning away from her. He almost sat up straight again but noticed how her eyes roamed his body freely and how this gave her a better few of him, so he simply dropped one hand back to the ground to keep him upright and waited. He even, rather boldly, brought the fingers of his other hand, the one that he’d used at her command to fuck her with, to his lips to taste her again.

On his knees, panting, his hair mussed, face wet, and his cock leaking precum though he hadn’t even touched it (her type exercised self-control), it was a good look on him. Delicious really.

With that thought her hunger returned, a quiet, gnawing ache that was not terribly unlike the one Fjord had just sated. She was not sure how much longer she could go without tasting him herself when he was so perfectly her type. “Any more requests for the night?”

“You.” It was a single word, spoken in a ragged, needy voice that was barely hanging onto Fjord’s false accent. It was the best answer Vex could imagine and she would be sure to remember the way he said it for a long time.

Vex walked away and Fjord’s gaze followed her across the room and back to the desk where she pulled the chair out a bit and said, “Take a seat, darling.”

He tried very hard not to look so desperate as he scrambled to his feet and strode over to the chair to do as she asked. He failed on many levels, even if Vex couldn’t hear the pounding of his heart and smell the excitement and arousal on him she would have known immediately. She didn’t tease him for it though, instead she said, “Hands to yourself,” and bent over him and kissed him. She ran her tongue over the flat, slightly jagged teeth that would have been tusks if allowed to grow. Her hand found his nipple piercing and she toyed with it as she kissed him until his hands, which he had been keeping on his thighs, went to her hips.

She pulled away at his touch and looked down at him with the corner of her lips turned up into a grin, “It seems you need help in keeping your hands where they’re supposed to be.”

He swallowed hard and cleared his throat, “It seems I do.”

Vex kissed him once more, quick and hard and with a clear taste of ownership over him. When she pulled away he leaned up, trying to follow her lips until she pushed him back down with the palm of her hand against his chest. “Stay,” she ordered him with a teasing grin, leaving him panting and his eyes glazed over.

Vex walked away from him, feeling his eyes on her as she moved across the room to a small chest that nobody would have found to be particularly interesting at a glance. And while at this point he had forgotten his nerves and the awkwardness he usually felt in intimate situations like this (Vex had that effect, it was the firm hand she had over her lovers that left no room for fear to hinder anyone’s enjoyment), he felt his cheeks become hot and his eyes went up to look at the ceiling when she bent over to take something from the chest.

He found he couldn’t look back at her, pulled back into his own head and feeling that slight embarrassment about his situation. He wondered if she could tell he hadn’t had anyone in longer than he liked to admit. He also hoped she couldn’t tell how badly he wanted her and everything she was offering.

While he was staring up at the ceiling Vex came back and stood behind him. She could see how tense he had become, sense the change in the air around him from desperation to anxiety. She would have to do something about that if they were going to continue.

He jumped when her hand touched his shoulder and ran down his bicep, “Would you like to stop?”

“I’m okay,” he answered after clearing his throat.

“That’s good darling, but it is not what I asked. Do you want me to keep going? Do you want to do something else? Do you want to stop?”

He licked his lips and let out a shaky breath when her hand moved to his chest, gently tracing little patterns over his skin and following the lines of old, raised scars. “Please keep going.”

“That’s better. I like when you tell me what you want.” She leaned down and kissed his neck, then dragged her teeth along him. He shivered, not realizing that there were fangs scraping against his skin but seeming to enjoy it greatly anyways. “Why don’t you get a little more specific, darling. I want to be sure we’re on the same page with the things I plan to do to you.”

He gasped when she took his earlobe between her teeth, gently tugging at it while she waited for him to speak. “Tie me up,” his words were rushed, shaky, still with a hint of nerves but now laced with anticipation again. “Tie me to the chair and use me, Captain.”

“You read my mind. Remember, if at any point you want me to stop you just need to tell me.” She pulled his arms back around the chair, watching the flex of his muscles as he adjusted to the rather awkward position. He would be sore when they were done, it wouldn’t be comfortable, but she struck him as someone who wanted it like that.

He bounced one of his legs while he she bound his arms together behind the back of the chair. He kept his hands still until she was finished and had moved on to running her hands up and down his arms, up and over the ropes repeatedly while she kissed his shoulders and the top of his back where she could get to him. “So pretty,” her type was pretty, “Does it hurt? Should I loosen them for you?”

He flexed his arms and his voice came out in a hot, strangled gasp, “No, they’re just right.”

“Good,” she teased at his nipple piercing again, just to watch him squirm and see the jerk of his arms. “You’ve never done this, have you Fjord?” She asked at a particularly hard pull of his arms and a gasp. She could see the signs of his inexperience here too and the idea of being the first to take him like this, to be the only one who had seen him tied up and waiting and so eager to be used, only made her want to do that much more to him.

He thought about lying but he’d learned that Vex was not one to lie to if one could avoid it, “Not like this.”

“You wanted it so badly I would have thought you were an expert at being someone’s plaything.” She sucked hard at a spot on his neck below his ear, high up on his throat, she doubted he’d be able to hide it. She was eager to see him about the ship marked up by her.

He couldn’t catch the whimper before it left his mouth and immediately wished he’d had enough control to hold it back, at least until Vex rewarded the slip with a hand that trailed down his stomach and dangerously close to his cock. “I like hearing you Fjord, I was beginning to worry that you were a quiet one. Tell me more, Fjord. You must think about it a lot if you’ve never done this.”

His head was tilted back his eyes closed, completely at her mercy and she hadn’t even really started. “I usually think about being tied to the bed, this is a new one.”

“Perhaps later you can tell me more about that fantasy and I’ll make it come true for you. If you don’t mind, however, I’d like to finish this one first.”

“Please,” he whined and she stood up. His body felt cold without her hands and he opened his eyes again to watch her walk around and stand in front of him.

The chair had no arms to it, something that often bothered Vex when she was trying to relax at her desk. She was not above switching it with one of the more comfortable chairs by the table that she and her brother or a guest would drink at like she had with Fjord earlier. Today though it was perfect, there was nothing to get in her way when she straddled his lap.

She didn’t take his cock right away, instead she left it between them, pressed against her stomach. Fjord was biting his lip and looking down at his dark green member against her sun-tanned skin. When she shifted on his lap he could see the wet smear of precum on her and his breath caught in his throat.

She tilted his face back up to look at her, “Don’t worry about that, dear, I’ll take care of you.”

He was at her mercy when she kissed him, reminded constantly of his hands bound to the chair behind him, keeping him from touching her and leaving her to tease him however she liked. “Captain,” he gasped against her lips, “please.”

“I like that,” she whispered into his ear, “Say it again.”

“Please Captain, I don’t think I’ll be able to hold on much longer.”

“You will,” she told him, once again leaving no room for him to decide any differently, taking the question out of the game entirely. Still, she took pity on him and raised herself up and guided the tip of his cock to her cunt. “Ask me again, Fjord. You’re so quiet, I’m not sure you want me badly enough.”

He threw his head back and bit his lip, still trying to hold back, still not fully surrendering over to her. “Please,” he whined and when he felt her slick folds he bucked his hips up only to feel her pull away. “Please, please I want this, take me.”

“Be still for me,” she commanded him lightly and he nodded eagerly. “If you want me to use you, Fjord, then you have to let me have you however I want.”

“I promise,” he whimpered and she cupped his cheek, making him look back to her.

“You’re so good for me, I may even keep you.”

He whimpered and it was one of the most beautiful sounds Vex has heard in her very long life. She could certainly see him becoming a regular indulgence of hers.

She sank down onto his cock slowly and watched the way he pulled at his lip and the tension come and go from his arms and listened to the moans and gasps that were beginning to come more regularly for her. For each one she rewarded him, kissing him, tweaking his nipples, squeezing herself around him, complimenting him, praising him for each sound until his mouth was just hanging open and the filter completely gone. It would return when they were finished but until then every single piece of him was hers.

She kissed at his open mouth and he kissed back with that same, sloppy eagerness that he had eaten her out with. She was bouncing on his cock now, rolling her hips against him, grinding down on him when it suited her. Fjord was less controlled now, his hips rising to meet hers more and more often. She didn’t tell him to stop and even moaned and gasped with him as he did so. His cock was thick and deep and filling her wonderfully, exactly what she didn’t know she needed. She had no intention of keeping him from giving her more of it.

At one point his head went back and he panted out the word “Captain” again and Vex saw the long expanse of his neck, the smell of him surrounding her and the hunger deep in her stomach coming to mind once more.

“This is going to hurt, darling,” she warned him and she licked a stripe along his throat.

“Yes,” he hissed, his mind likely in a haze.

She arched an eyebrow and decided to keep that in mind for another time. For the moment she focused on what she called vampire magic, she couldn’t numb him completely right away but she could take the edge off while she waited for that magic to take effect. It was something she would get better at with time. Then, still riding him, dragging her nails over his chest, pulling and teasing his nipples still to distract him, she sank her fangs into him.

He cried out and grew incredibly tense, but she continued on with distracting him, tangling her fingers in his hair and digging her fingernails into him, changing the angle of how she took him into her, doing just about anything she could to make him think it was just a part of this, perhaps even a particularly rough hickey. Humans were willing to ignore many things if they didn’t want to see the truth. She almost felt bad with how easy it was to trick them.

It did not take long for Fjord to begin moaning again and for him to go back to fucking up into her, perhaps with even more power behind his thrusts. She drank deeply from him, tasting him and the hunger and desire laced in his blood. It was the most delicious flavor in the world, the essence of someone who wanted her as desperately as he did.

When she’d had her fill she licked the wound one last time, this time with her focus of sealing him up again and leaving nothing but a red mark. She was thankful she was relatively neat when she fed, humans could ignore a lot of things, but blood spewing everywhere was a little too much to ask of them. She could hide the new evidence of her feast by throwing her own head back and pulling Fjord’s mouth to her chest. He eagerly took one of her hardened nipples between his lips leaning into her as much as his bonds allowed and doing his very best to please her in his less experienced and more messy way.

Now with his lust filled blood coursing through her, the sloppy way he worked to please her, the sweet sounds he was making against her, the way his length filled her, and the flavor of him still coating her lips and the inside of her mouth, she rode him harder. “That’s it, Fjord, just like that.” She cleaned the evidence away as she took him, wiping her mouth subtly and licking her fingers clean until she was confident that he wouldn’t notice anything left. Her fingers had a tight grip in his hair, his teeth scraped against her, drawing a gasps from her with a mixture of the sweet pleasure and sharp pain that came along with what he was doing.

She liked his messiness, his lack of experience, his pure eagerness, she’d rather have an enthusiastic lover than a perfect one, though she wouldn’t turn a man down if he could be both. She’d never met one like that though and she’d lived a long time.

Still, Fjord drew her closer and closer to the edge until she was on the verge of crashing over. “I may keep you after all,” she said more to herself than to him. “As you’re Captain,” she gasped as he thrust up into her sharply, “I’m ordering you to cum for me.”

There was a strangled noise, muffled by her breast, and his hips stuttered up into her a handful of times and she pulled his head back from her to hear him cry out and see the look on his face when he filled her. And as he came and she felt the warmth of him and saw the pure ecstasy of him under her she crushed her lips against his and ground down against him, dropping her fingers between them to touch her clit for just a moment before she came around him.

She stayed on his lap for a few moments after they had finished, letting Fjord catch his breath and letting her gather her thoughts. And then she stood up and went to her washbasin, grabbing a cloth and dipping it in the water before cleaning herself up and returning to Fjord to clean him up too.

His body was lax, his breathing deep and slow, like all of the tension and all his cares in the world had been leeched from him. Once again, it was a good look for him. “I thank you for that experience, Captain,” she noticed that his voice caught on Captain. She looked forward to seeing more of that.

“My pleasure, darling, trust me,” she winked and moved to the back of the chair to untie him.

His cheeks darkened but he didn’t say anything else. When she was done he rubbed at his wrists and arms, rolled out his shoulders a bit, but more than anything he looked satisfied. She could tell it was everything, and likely more, that he had dreamed of. “I—uh, I won’t hold you to anything you said about doing it again or,” he cleared his throat and she noticed the higher pitch in his voice when he said, “or about uh, keeping me.”

Her fingers went to his piercing again, for no other reason than she liked watching his eyes flutter close and his lips part for the quiet sigh that came out, “In this partnership I’m not sure you’re the one who does the holding,” she said with a smile that Fjord was sure would stick with him when he was remembering all of this. “I didn’t say anything I didn’t mean, dear. What happens stays in this room, I have no intention of falling in love with you, but if you are interested in exploring more of those fantasies or even just the occasional…” she drew her fingers over his collarbone and down his shoulder, “stress relief, then I would most certainly be happy to help. If not there are other ways I can get what I need and there’s no hard feelings.”

He licked his lips and took a long, slow breath. “I will…need some time to consider that.”

“Take all the time you need,” she placed a hand on his cheek and went up on her toes to kiss him one last time, “It’s late though and I won’t have rumor that I kick my lovers out after I’m finished with them. You must be tired, you can sleep here.” The feeding would have taken a lot out of him while invigorating her, she preferred to keep an eye on them for at least the first couple of hours.

He seemed to realize his exhaustion for the first time and rubbed at his eyes. “No, I can make it back to my bunk fine.”

She arched an eyebrow, “As your captain I must insist. You’ve had quite an intense time here, I would hate for someone to tell me you almost went overboard because you weren’t seeing straight. How about you lie down and when I’m finished with some work here I’ll wake you, shouldn’t be more than an hour or two.”

His exhaustion seemed to win out and he nodded, “Yeah, yeah I suppose that would be alright.”

A few minutes after he hit the bed he was out. And, just to make sure there were no loose ends, Vex went over to him and pressed her fingers to his forehead and, with some effort, created a slight fog over the end of their time together when she had drank from him. She tried to leave it as clear as possible, hoping to only obscure the sharp pain and the taste of copper when she kissed him again.

When she was satisfied she put on a robe, pulled over one of the more comfortable chairs to her desk, and went back to work.

She was in the middle of writing a letter when there was a knock at the door. She could tell instantly it was her brother and she settled the robe around her a little more, tied it around her waist, and opened the door. “Hello brother, what brings you here? I thought you were—”

“We’ve got a problem.” His voice was soft but she could see the touch of fear in his eyes.

She frowned, “It was just something to tide me over and I swear he won’t remember anything other than a pleasant night,” Vax peered over her shoulder to see the dark green body of a familiar deckhand lying on the bed under a dark red sheet. “We can find someone else on the ship if you need something to top you off before we get to port, we’ve done it before.” The risks of being out on open water for a vampire. That and the inescapable sun of course. There was a reason there weren’t more vampire pirates.

“It’s not that, Vex.” His voice was grave, not even the slightly disapproving tone he used when he didn’t agree with her meals.

She stepped out of the room and shut the door behind her. She had only seen him like this a handful of times before and it did not bode well. “Vax, what’s wrong?”

“It’s Greyskull. We have to go back.”

 

Vex’s fingers were playing with snow white hair while Percy rested his head on her lap and read. She had been lost in thought for a while remembering a life from long ago. “Your history books got it wrong, you know,” she said after a moment.

His beautiful blue eyes flicked up to hers and he closed his book. “Again?” He had a small smile on his lips when he asked. He always loved when she started a conversation like that, he knew there was a good story coming his way but more importantly there was insight into her life that she hadn’t told him yet.

Vex didn’t tell stories very often, she talked vaguely about the past but rarely the specifics. She once joked that it was because she wanted to space them out, eternity was a long time and she wanted to keep him interested. They both knew it was a joke, but Vex would be lying if it wasn’t something she considered. More often than not though she just forgot, it was hard to remember even the interesting things from the last couple hundred years.

Sometimes though…sometimes she just felt that there were things are better lost to history. Greyskull was one of those things. It had been on her mind recently though and Percy deserved to know. She wished she’d known when she had been a new vampire. The human mind is capable of missing things, of explaining away the things that don’t make sense. The reason vampires had lasted so long was because humans believed vampires couldn’t be real. The reason Greyskull hadn’t sent the world into a dangerous spiral and thrown everything humans knew into chaos was because they found a way to tell a story that made sense. Two kings disappeared or died after attempted mutiny that thrust the island into war. And when the Twin Kings were gone nobody took their place and after a few years the notorious small island of Greyskull fell into disuse and pirates went their own way once again.

Mutiny. Human jealousy of kings who spent too long on the throne. Lack of organization and order after the civil war. Such an easy story to tell. Such a believable lie.

“I told you I was surprised nobody took over when we faked our deaths.”

“You did,” Percy agreed while she ran her fingers through his hair. He could tell this story was different.

“At the time…I had hoped you would stay human.” It had been four months since Vex had turned Percy, still before they had turned the rest of their friends, and Vex figured it was time to tell him that with an intangibly long life he would come to see that some things were better lost to history. “I didn’t think you needed to know the full story.”

“And now you do.” It wasn’t a question or an accusation, he wasn’t trying to blame her or guilt her for lying. She loved that about him, he understood it wasn’t always black and white.

“Vax and I were at sea when we received word that we were needed back at Greyskull.”

 

“Captain, I am not sure that we will make it back as quickly as you wish, I—”

Vex cut off Caleb’s Zemnian accent by saying, “We will do whatever it takes to do so. Continue with the plans my brother has made. I will tell you if we need to adjust course. And Caleb, dear,” she smiled sweetly and pat his cheek, “don’t ask anymore questions. I’m afraid you won’t like the answers.”

Caleb’s lips pressed into a thin line and he nodded. He had come into piracy later than most, lost and alone and with energy he needed to expend, plans he had in mind. _The Trinket_ had a place for him, Vex and Vax had a home for him for as long as he desired, and they loved him as they loved all of their human friends, with great sorrow. In return for their home and due to a background they didn’t force him to talk about, he obeyed.

_We had a loyal crew. And while they didn’t know the truth of the matter they were not ignorant of the dangers that came with our orders. As we came closer to port we gave them a chance to leave, I believe I even tried ordering them to._

“As your captain I’m ordering you all off this ship,” Vex’s voice was cold and harsh. Vax stood behind her with his arms crossed over his chest and a sad, dark look in his eyes. Normally her brother was fun, a troublesome prankster when they were at sea, but he had been silent and brooding since they had been informed the danger at Greyskull.

“As your friend, Captain,” Beau looked pointedly between the two of them, a sharp and angry look in her eyes. Vex liked her, she wasn’t one to pull punches, metaphorical or literal, “you’re not getting us off this ship.”

_They were fools. Lovable, kind, idiots._

There were dark clouds over Greyskull and a sense of unease lay heavy in the air even before they had docked.

_Vax and I weren’t much smarter though. We went looking for trouble back then._

“It’s them, isn’t it?” Vax was standing at her side, his thick, feathery armor donned. Vex was in armor that looked like white scales and her bow was on her shoulder. She normally resorted to firearms these days, the ocean water was bad for her bow and there was something to be said about the new technology and gunpowder, but at the end of the day she felt more comfortable with her bow, if for no other reason than time had made her a better shot than anyone alive. Dead, well that was still up for debate.

_We’d been…hunting some people. I told you I didn’t ask to be turned and that the people who turned me didn’t take me in or anything. It was…a little more complicated._

“I can feel her. She’s on the island. Vax, maybe we’re wrong. Maybe she really did just want a family.” Even as she said it she knew that wasn’t true. She’d known from day one in her heart…but they’d been so convincing at the beginning. Even now it was hard to believe. Still, to go against her maker, a maker that had been so kind after Vex had found Vax and turned him too, it didn’t feel right.

_It’s true I never asked for it, and it’s true that I hated them for it, but after I turned Vax they found us again and they offered to show us the ropes. They said they wanted a family and that they wanted to give us the family we lost after our mother died. We were naïve. We had nowhere else to go._

“They’re monsters, Vex’ahlia.” His voice was soft, kind, but firm. They had no other option. Especially now that they had found what they wanted at Greyskull.

_They were looking for something. They needed more eyes and ears to find these…these things. So, they taught us, loved us, lied to us, trained us to find whatever they wanted. Mostly just information. Books, stories, things lost to history. We didn’t know why, not for a long time._

She nodded and straightened up. “Take us in.”

“Of course, Captain,” Fjord said and then began calling out orders for bringing them in.

Vax kept his voice low, “If they’re here that means—”

“They know we’re here.”

“And they’ll know what we’ve been hiding.”

Vex was careful not to let her gaze find Fjord. Her type always had a bit of darkness in him, even if they didn’t quite know it. “We’ll have to keep them safe somehow.”

“Send them to the capital, they’ll listen to you if you tell them they need to protect the people there or that there’s something of value. Get them away from…it.”

_And one day we found something. A book about what they were looking for and what it had been used for in the past. We thought it would have destroyed the world so we burned the book and went to Greyskull to protect what we had discovered was lost there. And many years later, after we had taken over as pirate kings and made names for ourselves as the Twin Kings, the Raven Captain and the Huntress, they found us._

Vex watched them begrudgingly head to the center of the capital. Rushing families to safer places, gathering up practiced pirates to act as soldiers. It was chaos. Buildings in the distance burned, pirates were turning on one another in the confusion. Mutiny people were saying, invasions others were crying out, but all of them knew there would be death. After years of adventure a person just knows.

_When we arrived on the island they had already plunged it into chaos. Half the city was burning, everyone was at one another’s throat because they believed it to be a large-scale mutiny against us. The history doesn’t do a very good job at showing it, but we were quite loved. Nobody trusted anyone and all of them were willing to die for us. My makers used that to sow discord. Those that didn’t believe we were in danger believed we were being attacked by the navy or the other brotherhood of pirates that was in its early days of forming, I doubt even you have heard of them, they disbanded after this as well, likely from fear._

And while they all began to attempt to create order and gather some semblance of an army or guard, Vex and Vax disappeared into the shadows. They made their way to the edge of the city to the woods and at an inhuman speed they went to an old well that nobody knew the origin of, they simply believed it had been built when the island was settled. Vax and Vex knew it had been built to hide something long before, and it had not started as a well but as an unnatural hole in the ground. And in it something was dropped into the water deep below the earth and prayers were said in hopes of keeping it hidden.

An amber stone, cracked down the center like an eye.

The same color as the stone on Fjord’s piercing. She wondered if he had gotten it as a reminder of the dark secret in him. Her only hope left was that Fjord lived a full, natural life and died before her makers could find him and take the secret he thought he’d hidden so well.

_We went to make sure what we had found was safe._

“Vex,” Vax was in a half crouch with his daggers drawn and fangs bared.

Vex pulled her bow from her shoulder and knocked a silver arrow, “They’re here,” she whispered.

_When we arrived we were not alone._

“After all these years, dear, we’ve finally found our children.” Her voice was ice in Vex’s veins.

_My maker and her lover had found what they were looking for._

“Well thank the gods, we’ve been so worried about you.” His seemed to echo around them, coming from every direction and making them turn to try and find him.

_Their names were Delilah and Sylas Briarwood._

From seemingly nowhere they appeared. Sylas, tall and broad with dark slicked back hair and a perfectly cared for goatee. His eyes were dark, soulless Vex thought. His arm was wrapped around her waist. Delilah—Lady Briarwood—was slim, a few inches shorter than him in her heels, brown hair in a loose and still perfect bun, a single curl framing one side of her face, an effortless beauty Vex had always envied.

Lord Briarwood wore a black suit with gold and red accents that only made him look more dangerous and intimidating. His wife wore a black dress with lace sleeves and cleavage and a lace choker with a dark red stone at the base of her throat, she was the one who Vex had looked up to when she was finding her place in this new, endless and beautiful world. Sometimes she felt shame in that, usually she found power. Vex did it better, she had made it her own, at least that’s what she told herself.

In Lady Briarwood’s hand was the orb. “Where’s the last one, Vex’ahlia?”

_Vampires are not the only things we should fear, there are many terrible creatures in this world._

“I wouldn’t tell you even if I knew.” Vex spat onto the ground and Vax adjusted his grip on his silvered daggers.

Delilah sneered at Vex, “There are things we can do without the third.” She pressed the sphere against her stomach and Vex watched it slowly disappear within her.

And then the earth rumbled.

And from deep below, echoing in the well, there was a roar.

_They called forth a beast, an ancient serpent that the gods had locked away before they created the sun. They called him Uk’otoa._

From the well crawled hundreds of creatures. They climbed over each other, stepping and clawing at the others until they were free of the well. They passed around the twins like water, ignoring them even as Vex felled them with arrows and Vax slashed away at them with daggers. But for each one they killed another five came behind them, ignoring them and rushing to the city.

_One of our crew members, one we had sent to help calm the uproar in the city in hopes he would be safer there, he held what they needed to unleash Uk’otoa. An amber orb, the last of three._

“They will find what they are looking for, my darling children. And when they do we will own the power of Uk’otoa himself.” Delilah stretched out a hand to them as the creatures surged around her, tall and gray with no eyes and webbed fingers. They had hundreds of pointed teeth and only one thought on their mind. The third orb. “Come home, my darling Vex’ahlia and Vax’ildan. I told you so long ago I would protect you and show you the beauty of the world. I promised we would be a family. I only wish to give you the world you deserve.”

Sylas held his hand out to them as well, keeping his other around Delilah’s waist. They looked like parents beckoning their children in for a group hug. “We have missed you so, young ones. Let us create a better world together.”

Vex a pain in her chest and she remembered so clearly what it was like to feel her heart seize up from fear. She cast a look to her brother and without a word she turned and bolted back for the city, confident that he would be right on her tail.

_When we realized he would be in danger we ran back to find him._

She could sniff him out even through the blood and fear of an entire city. And with him were some of the other crewmembers he was particularly close with. Vex and Vax began grabbing them by their collars and pushing them back towards the boat. “Get off the island now! We’re leaving!” Vax yelled at them as they ran.

They all stopped in their fleeing but it was Molly who spoke first. “You want us to just leave these people?”

Jester shook her head, “But what will they do without us?”

Caduceus was likely going to say something as well, but Fjord who acted as their leader more than anyone else broke in. He stepped up to Vax, looking down on him in a way that a deckhand should never do to their captain, and said, “I’m not leaving these people here like this.”

Vax snarled, he was so defensive when he found he couldn’t save those he loved, “You want to protect them? Get that fucking thing inside you off this island.”

Fjord blinked in shock and stumbled back as if Vax had hit him. And his eyes widened as he looked over their shoulders to see the first grey, unnatural shapes moving towards them, tearing at anything in their way. “I have no idea what you mean.”

Vex pushed her brother a step to the side so she was standing in front of Fjord, she took his face in her hands so he would look at her.

_The city was lost._

“There’s nothing we can do here, Fjord.”

_We believed if we could get the man who had the last piece they needed off the island they would stop the search._

“They will kill everything to get to you, and once they do they’ll kill everything else in this world.”

_We had no other choice but to run._

“They’re coming after you, Fjord. If they see you leaving there’s a chance they’ll leave the others to try and hunt you, but the ocean water,” Vex looked to Vax because it had been so long since they found that book.

“They’re bound to this island, if they touch the ocean and try to leave they’ll die.” Vax was growing impatient but this was something that wasn’t a light request. Vex knew if they had asked it of Vax he would never have left willingly, she would have had to drag him by his ears.

“If you don’t leave this island with their attention on you, it doesn’t matter what kind of army you try to build or how many children you lock away in homes, they will not stop. This is our only option, Fjord.” It killed her to say it. It tore her apart to leave. Greyskull…Greyskull had been her only home for so long…and the people here had loved her and her brother and she had done so much and she loved this place so much. And it was burning around her and those she had worked with were screaming and howling and fighting and _dying_ around her. And she was fleeing.

But it was for the best.

_We tried to save some of them._

Fjord grit his teeth and look around at the grey figures slowly coming closer, some obviously locking onto him and turning their blank faces to him and moving with purpose in their direction. “We’re taking as many of them with us as we can.” It was not a request.

Vax stabbed one that had come a close and snapped, “Then we’d better get fucking moving!”

_We tried to bring anyone along that we saw along the way. Uk’otoa and his creatures were bound to the island, if we could get off the island we believed we could stop it._

They made it to the ship without too much trouble. Yasha, Jester, and Caduceus, carried people on their backs and shoulders, Nott rushed ahead to start yelling for people to head to the ship, to warn people of the coming danger at the very least, the others fought off the onslaught of creatures not being drawn to Fjord.

_Vax and I had meant to protect the island, to watch over the magical orb and make sure it didn’t get into the wrong hands. But we’d grown comfortable and lulled into the magic of piracy. We justified it by claiming we were protecting the man with the final orb, but it was because we had thought we were safe, we had thought we won. It was our fault Greyskull fell._

On the ship, pulling away from the island, Fjord stood at the bow and raised a hand high above his head. And a beam of amber magic flew from his hand, drawing the attention of the horrifying creatures and calling them to follow him into the sea where they dissolved into foam and were lost.

And when it was over, when no more creatures rushed to their doom and the city fell silent and sweat dripped from Fjord’s face before he dropped to his knees and struggled to stay awake, when it was over Vex and Vax returned to shore.

The others disembarked with caution, looking for dangers looking around the corner, before eagerly seeking out loved ones and eventually drinks at the tavern. Fjord’s friends took him to Vex’s quarters and watched over him, talking quietly while he slept. But the twins went back to the well, now a handful of broken stones around a hole in the ground.

“She’s not here anymore,” Vex told her brother when she didn’t feel the pull of her maker any longer.

Vax nodded, “We’re still not safe here.”

“Neither is Fjord, not now that they know where this is,” Vex ached for all of the loss here. It as the only time she felt that the word curse Vax used to describe their condition was accurate, when she had to watch everything and everyone she loved die before her.

“We need to leave, we don’t know if they’ll be back.”

 

“We left. Just disappeared from the city. Took our ship, took what was left of our crew and any others who wished to join us, and took the man who was the key to unleashing that evil upon the world, and we ran.”

Percy had sat up and was staring at the fall with a deep frown. She didn’t blame him, she didn’t know how to process it at first either. “What happened next?”

Vex sighed and leaned back. “Everyone knew we had left, and though they weren’t sure what hand we had in it all they knew we weren’t killed at that we had somehow stopped it. That was why there was no new king to take over. And the horrors left were why people left the island and parted ways, what had once been a haven was a look into the Hells themselves. As for Fjord, the one who we had vowed to protect after everything, the one who possessed the final orb, we did so. And the rest of our crew. Some of them came and went, we were careful to send them away before they could notice Vax and I didn’t age and didn’t eat. The ones we kept, the ones from Greyskull, were the only ones who knew the truth of it.

“When he died we buried him at sea, losing the final orb for hopefully an eternity. And we have heard nothing of the Briarwoods since, though Vax and I keep an ear out. Of course I worry that they’re still looking, but no, I think just won and now their plan that they had worked on for hundred of years can no longer come to fruition. It’s strange to think but I believe we’ve won.”

Percy took a deep, shaky breath. “Sylas and Delilah Briarwood.”

Vex cocked her head when she looked at him. She may not have been able to hear his heart beat any longer but she knew when her love was troubled. “Yes. They are not the kind of people put into history books.”

“No, but they are not people I would forget either.” He looked back at Vex, “I…believed I had made them up. All the therapists I saw afterwards told me that I was trying to explain the situation, that I was making up monsters to deal with the trauma of what really happened. But they told me their names and they,” he stopped, unable to find the words.

Vex took his hand and he let her, grateful for her touch to bring him back down to earth. She forced back the rage, tasting the sharp copper of an upcoming war that she hadn’t tasted in a long time. “You met them?”

“Yes. They are the ones who slaughtered my family. And afterwards they…they held out their hands.” He had a far away look in his eyes, the same kind that Vex had just had. Falling away into the memory, only telling the pieces that could be said but leaving out what had to be experienced. “They said they had always wanted a son and a daughter. Cass was unconscious, it was just the two of us left. And the woman, Delilah, reached out to me and before she touched me she stopped. She said I wasn’t ready. That what was in me needed more…more hatred to grow. And then they just…vanished.”

Vex pulled his hand and sat so she was facing him better. He seemed to focus in on her again and shifted so he was facing her as well. And she put her hand on his chest, still surprised that her lover’s heart was still beneath it when he always seemed so full of life. “You are a good man.” She could sense the inner turmoil in him, she knew how often he doubted that. She ever quite understood why, he had struggled with himself before she turned him and he had always avoided questions about it. She understood now, especially if wasn’t even sure it had been real, which would be why he hadn’t told her about this part of that night. It seemed they both had been holding onto stories they believed better lost to time.

He smiled but it didn’t meet his eyes. “Sometimes I wonder.” He placed his hand over hers and was quiet for a moment before he said, “If they are real…”

“They certainly made it seem like they plan to come back. They are not the kind of people who forget.” Vex almost drifted back into more memories from the early days of her time with him, but Percy spoke again before she could go down the rabbit hole.

“What are we going to do?” He was looking at her, his eyes flicking back and forth between hers. She could see he had ideas but that he was deferring to her first.

She took a deep breath, though not necessary it still steadied her. She could see why Vax had known so quickly that he was so painfully her type and she had no chance of not falling desperately in love with him. Pretty, charming, submissive, intelligent, eager, a little bit of darkness in him, and utterly hers. Percy was hers. And if the Briarwoods wanted him they would have to go through her to get to him.

She wondered what Vax would say when she went her with this newest lead on her maker, and by extension his. Normally they took these leads and fled or laid low, never had they sought them out and of course they’d talked about killing the Briarwoods but…well it had never seemed doable. Vex was sure now, if they were after Percy she would find the strength in her to stop them.

She figured he would call her predictable again, but she knew he would be on the same page. Perhaps it was time for them to stop trying to minimize the damage and time to cut the head off of the problem entirely.

“I suppose I’ll have to teach you to become a vampire hunter, darling.”


End file.
